Paleoenvironment (Archaeology)

Archaeological data are most commonly applied towards understanding past human activities. However, these data can include environmental information such as animal and plant remains which offer insight into past environmental history. This paper outlines general introductory principles of environmental applications in archaeology, including the character of archaeological data, the preservation of environmental remains, and problems of interpretation arising from the “cultural filter” through which these remains necessarily have passed. We conclude by noting problems and prospects in environmental archaeology, leading to two case studies which demonstrate the value and potential of archaeological analyses to the reconstruction of past ecosystems. The first case study explores the period of European contact in Gwaii Haanas (Queen Charlotte Islands, British Columbia), a time characterized by rapid and substantial environmental changes. In particular, archaeological evidence is described that relates to the extirpation of the sea otter during the maritime fur trade and the resulting impact on ecologically related species such as abalone, sea urchin, and kelp dependent fish. The second case study examines prehistoric fish use in the Aleutian Islands. Specifically, size reconstruction of Pacific cod specimens recovered from Aleut archaeological sites shows the harvesting of fish that exceed the size of those commonly encountered by modern commercial fisheries. Together, these case studies demonstrate that archaeological analysis can provide a picture of the past environment that is not readily available through other sources of data.

In the 8th-7th centuries BCE the southern border of Judah included the southern Lowland (Shephelah), the southern hill country and the Beer-sheba– Arad Valley. In this southern fringe of Judah, Judeans lived side by side with tribes that were of Edomite and Arab origin. In the 4th-3rd centuries BCE the Province of Idumea included all the areas of the Beer-sheba–Arad Valley, the southern Shephelah and the southern Judean Hills; the majority population in the region was Idumean and Arab. The borders of Yehud had shrunk to a line north of Beth-Zur in the hill country and Azekah and the Ellah Valley in the Shephelah, and most of the Judahite population was concentrated around Jerusalem. Explanations for these historical, geopolitical, cultural and demographic changes have been well-discussed by scholars; in this paper, we provide a set of paleo-environmental data that sheds new light on this process. Palynological and sedimen-tological information show that during the late 6th through the mid-5th centuries BCE (~ 520-450 BCE) dryer climate conditions were prevalent in the region. During the early Hellenistic period, wet climate conditions and intense olive horticulture characterized the region. Since in the steppe-marginal areas of the southern Levant, even minor climatic variation can result in major environmental change, the main argument of this paper is that the dry conditions in the early Persian period caused a process of abandonment of most of the villages in the southern parts of the former Kingdom of Judah, triggering nomadization of some elements of the local population and immigration to the core areas of the province of Yehud of others. After the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah and the collapse of the southern settlement and military system, this process provoked a demographic vacuum in the southern Lowland (Shephelah), the southern hill country and the Beer-sheba–Arad Valley that encouraged the immigration of nomadic elements into it. The gradual increase in moisture in the late 5th and 4th centuries BCE probably reinforced a cultural progressing, by stabilizing the settlements that were highly dependent on water resources and local agriculture. The semi-nomadic elements could have easily settled in the area and quickly created the settlement alignment of the province of Idumea. Résumé : Au 8 ème et 7 ème s. av. n. è., la frontière sud du royaume de Juda incluait le sud de la plaine côtière (Shéphélah), le sud de la zone montagneuse ainsi que la vallée de Beer-sheba et Arad. La population judéenne vivait dans l'ensemble de cette région, aux côtés de tribus d'origines édomite et arabe qui vivaient à l'extrémité sud de Juda. Aux 4 ème et 3 ème s., la province d'Idumée comprenait toute la zone de la vallée de Beer-sheba et Arad, le sud de la Shéphélah ainsi que le sud des collines judéennes; la population édomite et arabe était majoritaire dans la région. Le territoire de Yehud s'arrêtait à une ligne au nord de Beth-Zur dans la zone montagneuse, et à Azékah et la vallée d'Elah dans la Shéphélah; la plupart de la population judéenne était concentrée autour de Jérusalem. Les explications pour ces changements historiques, géopolitiques, culturels et démographiques sont bien connues; nous présentons toutefois de nouvelles données paléoenvi-ronnementales qui apportent un nouvel éclairage. Les informations palynolo-giques et sédimentologiques montrent que vers la fin du 6 ème et la première moitié du 5 ème s. (environ 520-450) des conditions climatiques plus sèches étaient récurrentes dans la région. Le début de l'époque hellénistique, en revanche, est marqué par des conditions climatiques humides dans la région, permettant une intense oléiculture. Étant donné que dans les zones marginales des steppes du Levant sud, même des variations climatiques mineures peuvent provoquer des changements environnementaux importants, la thèse principale de cet article est que les conditions arides du début de l'époque perse ont causé l'abandon de la plupart des villages dans les zones sud de l'ancien royaume de Juda, ainsi que l'immigration de la plupart des habitants vers le coeur de la province de Yehud. Ce processus a provoqué un vide démographique qui a encouragé l'immigration de groupes nomades à la place, une immigration qui avait en tout cas déjà com-mencé suite à la destruction du royaume de Juda et l'effondrement de l'habitation dans le sud ainsi que du système militaire. La montée progressive de l'humidité vers la fin du 5 ème et au 4 ème s. a probablement renforcé le développement de la culture, en stabilisant les habitations qui étaient fortement dépendantes en eau et en agriculture locale. Les groupes semi-nomades ont pu s'installer facilement dans la région et atteindre en un rapide processus l'alignement de l'habitation dans la province d'Idumée.

È dal 2011 che il villaggio palafitticolo di Palù di Livenza è Patrimonio Mondiale dell'Umanità, per la verità assieme ad altri 110 siti dell'arco alpino. Ricordo la visita dell'Ispettrice UNESCO, una archeologa irlandese, che rimase particolarmente colpita dall'assoluta unicità del luogo sia da un punto di vista archeologico che da un punto di vista ambientale. Ora dopo un paio d'anni di gestazione, siamo riusciti finalmente a produrre questo lavoro editoriale frutto della collaborazione di numerosi studiosi e professionisti del settore, a cui va un sentito ringraziamento per l'impegno profuso. Ringrazio anche i Comuni di Caneva e Polcenigo e l'Ecomuseo Lis Aganis per il sostegno economico, il prof. Mario Cosmo per la tenacia e il dott. Roberto Micheli per la competenza. Io qui non mi soffermerei tanto sul lavoro editoriale vero e proprio, ma sull'idea dello sviluppo che un'area di questa importanza potrebbe avere (il sito è uno tra i più estesi e maggiormente frequentati d'Europa). Mi vien da pensare all'importanza didattica di un sito mai indagato prima e che mi ricorda, fatte le debite proporzioni, Pompei: qui il villaggio non è coperto di cenere e lapilli, ma di fango e torba che hanno sigillato il deposito archeologico. E di seguito penso alla peculiarità di questo ambiente umido e di questa torbiera, che potrebbe essere una risorsa da un punto di vista naturalistico, dove possono innescarsi risvolti economici legati al turismo e, forse soprattutto, ad un turismo culturale che per in nostri paesi non può e non deve essere un discorso né banale né scontato. Fantasie di un sognatore? Forse... Comunque sognare costa poco e dà motivazione alla nostra passione, alle nostre ricerche, al nostro senso di appartenenza al territorio.

Volume 2 - Le haut Moyen Âge (VIe – Xe siècle) : l’occupation médiévale est la plus
importante sur le site. Elle s’étend sur presque toute la superficie de l’emprise de la prescription de fouille à l’exception de la partie nord. 18 cabanes excavées et 6 bâtiments sur poteaux ont pu être identifiés. La présence d’un radier de galets de 30 m² localisé sur la partie proéminente du site peut être associée à un bâtiment sur poteaux dont le plan n’a pu cependant être déterminé.
Pour la plupart de ces structures sur poteaux, l’établissement du plan reste difficile voire impossible. Les trous de poteaux sont enchevêtrés et n’offrent pas de lecture instantanée de leur plan. Cinq phases principales ont pu être déterminées grâce à l’étude des structures, de la céramique, des datations C14 et des bois. C’est au cours des phases 2 ou 3, entre la seconde moitié du VIIe siècle et le début du VIIIe siècle, que se constitue l’essentiel de l’occupation avec l’aménagement d’un espace central délimité par un enclos palissadé sur lequel vient s’établir une série de cabanes excavées, limité au sud par la présence d’un paléochenal actif au haut Moyen Âge. Cette limite perdure vraisemblablement jusqu’à la période Carolingienne (phase 4), où une série de sépultures, datées par C14, succède ou réemploie les cabanes excavées situées à l’intérieur de cet espace. Cet espace enclos est dominé par le bâtiment associéau radier, placé sur une légère proéminence située au centre du segment sud
de cet espace, au bord du chenal. Un ou deux autres bâtiments sont établis
au nord, hors de cet enclos et semblent faire face au bâtiment principal. Deux puits isolés pourraient éventuellement appartenir à cette occupation.
Enfin, la découverte dans une grande fosse isolée d’un ensemble exceptionnel de faune, constitué par un large éventail d’espèces (poisson, batracien, oiseaux, bovidés, etc., faune domestique et faune sauvage) et tout particulièrement de grands bovidés sauvages comme l’aurochs mais aussi, de manière exceptionnelle, l’élan, pose le problème du statut de cet ensemble, dont une partie peut être attribuée à la pratique de la chasse (réservée à une élite aristocratique). La
relation éventuelle avec le statut et la fonction de l’habitat contemporain mis au jour sur le site (VIIe siècle) reste à évaluer.

-La période moderne à contemporaine (XVIIIe –XXe siècle) : un ensemble des fossés-drains a pu être attribué à différentes phases de la période moderne à contemporaine. Ces fossés entaillent toutes les structures archéologiques des phases précédentes. Certaines localisations suggèrent la fossilisation du parcellaire du haut Moyen Âge. La présence sur la partie nord du terrain de nombreuses fosses quadrangulaires, rappelle la pratique de la culture de la vigne au cours des XIXe et XXe siècles attestée dans la commune. Enfin, d’assez importants vestiges militaires, douilles d’obus ou éclats, témoignent des combats de la poche de Colmar livrés au cours de l’hiver 1944-1945 qui ont abouti à la destruction totale de la commune.

We report results of palynological investigation of a core of sediments extracted from the bottom of the Sea of Galilee. The core was sampled at high resolution for both palynological analysis (a sample was taken c. every 40 years) and radiocarbon dating. The article focuses on the Early Bronze and Intermediate Bronze Ages, c. 3600–1950 BC. The results enable reconstruction of the vegetation and thus climate in the lake's fluvial and alluvial catchment, which includes large parts of northern Israel and Lebanon and southwestern Syria. The study sheds light on topics such as changes in olive cultivation through time and regions, processes of urbanization and collapse and settlement expansion and retraction in the arid zones.

In this paper, we analyze the isotopic niche and resource use of the guanaco (Lama guanicoe), pampas deer (Ozotoceros bezoarticus) and marsh deer (Blastocerus dichotomus) on the temperate plain of the northern Pampa region in the southeast of South America. The measured stable isotope compositions in bone tissue are δ 13 C, δ 15 N and δ 18 O. All the analyzed samples were recovered from different archaeological sites from the late Holocene. According to the results, the guanaco was strictly confined to the Pampa plain environment, developing a broad niche based on C 3 plants and a variable contribution of C 4 grasses within a grazing trend. The pampas deer preferentially used the Pampa plain, but also the prairies on the borders of the wetland, showing eurioic characteristics and a narrower niche based on C 3 plants. In turn, the marsh deer was strictly confined to wetland environments, developing a C 3 diet-base, within a narrow isotopic niche and stenoic characteristics. The three mammals showed a wide range of intraspecific variability, which was a key factor in their adaptability to spatial and temporal changes in the vegetation coverage. In fact, the temporal trends of their isotopic values were concurrent with the major climatic variations of the Holocene. Differences in the correlations between the values of both carbon sources in both deer species compared with the guanaco suggest a distinct chemical composition of their diet and/or differences in the allocation of nutrients. The isotopic values of nitrogen and spacing of the carbon sources in guanaco (pseudoruminant) and both deer species (ruminants) show no significant differences between them, thus establishing the values for local large herbivores. Significant correlations between δ 13 C and δ 15 N were found in the guanaco and marsh deer. The regional and extra-regional variability in the guanaco's δ 13 C collagen and δ 15 N probably reflect the clinal variations in the vegetation coverage and the amount of rainfall. The collagen isotope values in the guanaco throughout the entire Holocene show that the humid Pampa would have shifted between being a more recurrent mesic and temperate plain with minor phases of dry-mesic conditions like during the Little Ice Age, and a humid and warm one at the peaks of the Holocene Thermal Maximum and the Medieval Climatic Anomaly. The guanaco and the pampas deer adapted to all the climatic changes that happened on the humid Pampa until the biological invasions of large European mammals changed the herbivores' guild composition of this vast plain, pushing them into peripheral habitats due to competition. The within-species variability in isotopic signals through time and space make it necessary to carry out adequate sampling before reconstructing the diets of local past populations. ARTICLE HISTORY

The Arabian Peninsula is a key region for understanding climate change and human occupation history in a marginal environment. The Mundafan palaeolake is situated in southern Saudi Arabia, in the Rub’ al-Khali (the ‘Empty Quarter’), the world’s largest sand desert. Here we report the first discoveries of Middle Palaeolithic and Neolithic archaeological sites in association with the palaeolake. We associate the human occupations with new geochronological data, and suggest the archaeological sites date to the wet periods of Marine Isotope Stage 5 and the Early Holocene. The archaeological sites indicate that humans repeatedly penetrated the ameliorated environments of the Rub’ al-Khali. The sites probably represent short-term occupations, with the Neolithic sites focused on hunting, as indicated by points and weaponry. Middle Palaeolithic assemblages at Mundafan support a lacustrine adaptive focus in Arabia. Provenancing of obsidian artifacts indicates that Neolithic groups at Mundafan had a wide wandering range, with transport of artifacts from distant sources.

Burke, A. A., S. Wachsmann, S. Avnaim-Katav, R.K. Dunn, K. Kowalski, G.A. Pierce and M. Peilstöcker, 2017.  Historical, Cartogaphic, and Geomorphological Data Concerning an Ancient Inland Harbor at Jaffa, Israel.  In The History and Archaeology of Jaffa 2. A. A. Burke, K. S. Burke and M. Peilstöcker, eds. Los Angeles, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology Press: 89-110.

Over the last 20 years, the geoarchaeology of ancient harbours has been a very active area of research around the Mediterranean basin, generating much palaeoenvironmental data from many sites, including estimations of sedimentation rates, the height of the ancient sea-level at different dates and palaeo-geographical reconstructions. Combining this information has proved a major challenge. This article proposes a new chart called the Palaeoenvironmental Age-Depth Model (PADM chart), that allows the researchers to combine all relevant indicators in order to estimate harbour potential of a given ancient port, and to generate comparable data between harbours in terms of degree of closure and water depth available against a synchronised chronology. This new approach, developed in the context of the ERC-funded RoMP Portuslimen project, takes into account estimations of water depths relating to differing Roman ship draughts at different periods. It is tested against the palaeoenvironmental evidence published over 10 years from two Roman harbours located at the mouth of the river Tiber: Ostia and Portus. This reveals that: (1) there has been an underestimate of the real sedimentation rates due to the margins of error of the radiocarbon dates; (2) there was effective control of the water column by dredging; (3) there were different periods of control of the sedimentation. We suggest that the navigability of the Ostia harbour by ships with shallower draughts was maintained until sometime between the 2nd c. BC and 1st c. AD, while at Portus it was retained until the 6th—7th c. AD.

La dizaine d'années de fouilles programmées menées sur le site de la butte du Hexenberg, a permis de rassembler des données archéologiques conséquentes dont l'exploitation fait l'objet d'une monographie. En dehors de la synthèse archéologique qui n'est pas encore entièrement finalisée, un axe de recherche important concerne la relation entretenue entre le site, la plaine alluviale (ici, le Ried nord) et le cours ancien du Rhin (actuellement, le Hexenberg est à huit kilomètres du fleuve canalisé dont il est séparé par une plaine agricole). Une fenêtre d'étude a donc été ouverte entre Seltz et Drusenheim et, grâce à l'exploitation d'un document LIDAR, à la reprise de cartes anciennes, des photos aériennes et à l'exploitation de données issues de deux opérations récentes en archéologie préventive, des résultats nouveaux sur l'emprise protohistorique rhénane dans le Ried nord ont pu être acquis. Un puissant paléochenal d'une centaine de mètres de largeur, actuellement occupé sur un de ses bords par un petit fossé, le Landallmend-graben, est encore largement marqué dans le paysage et passe à cinq cents mètres en contrebas de la butte du Hexenberg. Il semble se raccorder au système rhénan et des observations récentes montrent une fourchette d'acti-vité hydrologique compatible avec l'occupation du Hexenberg. Par ailleurs, les études réalisées sur les objets métalliques rejetés dans d'anciens bras du Rhin de la zone confortent ces éléments de datations. Le cours du fleuve s'est donc déplacé de l'ouest vers l'est entre la Protohistoire et l'époque actuelle. Il est clair que ces données restent fragiles et ne sont que l'amorce d'un vaste travail de reconnaissance et de datation du colmatage des nom-breux paléobras du Rhin, mais elles permettent de proposer l'image d'un site qui n'est plus « de hauteur » mais lié étroitement à son environnement rhénan. Du point de vue strictement archéologique, le site, fortifié par une palis-sade, n'est occupé que durant une assez brève période, la fin du Bronze final, avec, en l'état des fouilles, aucune occupation antérieure. Le site est déserté, et bien « nettoyé » au Hallstatt C et ne sera réoccupé que briève-ment par une petite nécropole gallo-romaine, puis par une butte du haut Moyen Âge. Les 4 000 m 2 fouillés sous couvert forestier ont permis d'ob-server 197 structures et 100 unités stratigraphiques, ce qui en fait un site assez densément occupé par rapport aux sites de plaine connus où le

To identify oxygen isotope (δ 18 O) values and associated sea-surface temperature (SST) in the northern Caribbean , 82 δ 18 O values from 3 modern and 11 prehistoric Donax denticulatus shells were sampled. First, we conducted X-ray diffraction (XRD) on several modern shells to confirm aragonite composition. After identifying the biomineralogical composition of the shell, we applied several δ 18 O-to-SST conversion equations and selected the most appropriate formula based on pairing modern isotopic data with SST during the time of collection. We then converted prehistoric isotopic values to SST estimates to reconstruct paleo-SST for nearshore waters off the island of Nevis in the northern Lesser Antilles. Our results indicate that prehistoric isotopic signatures are slightly more depleted than modern signatures, with estimated SST similar to modern conditions for the region. Our study demonstrates the potential for Donax denticulatus to serve as a reliable proxy for recording ambient SST and reconstructing local paleoecology of nearshore environments, important for examining a host of issues related to prehistoric settlement and island adaptations.

This paper focuses on the web of relationships established between Early and Middle Bronze Age communities and their environment in Northwest Iberia. Charcoal remains recovered from settlements and funerary sites in this area can inform a greater understanding of wood resource procurement and woodland management strategies adopted by these small-scale communities. Although charcoal analysis of contexts with chronologies ranging from 2200 to 1200 cal. BC is not commonly undertaken in this area, data from this period are of great importance because it represents a phase of major deforestation and landscape change. Wood resources were local and exploitation was conditioned by their availability in the environs of the sites. These communities established a clear preference for Quercus wood, combined recurrently with shrubby species of the Fabaceae family. This co-occurrence, previously observed in Middle and Late Bronze Age contexts, could extend back to the Early Bronze Age and even to the Late Neolithic. The presence of small trees and shrubs such as Rosaceae/Maloideae and Corylus avellana could be related with the open landscape that characterises this period, and with the existence of woodland management practices designed to prevent forest regeneration.

A large-scale electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) survey was undertaken around the Neolithic tell of Szeghalom-Kovácshalom in southeast Hungary, covering an area of almost 6 ha. High-resolution ERT data were collected along 28 uniformly distributed transects of variable length using the roll-along technique. A recently presented two-dimensional fast non-linear resistivity inversion algorithm was used to invert the ERT data and recover the true subsurface resistivity distribution along the specific cross-sections. The algorithm calculates and stores in an efficient manner the part of the Jacobian matrix that is actually important within the inversion procedure, thus rendering it almost 4.8 times faster than the algorithm that calculates the complete Jacobian matrix, without losing quality. The algorithm was further modified to account for any non-standard electrode configuration. A recently established iterative algorithm for sparse least squares problems (LSMR) was incorporated for the first time into the algorithm to solve the inverse resistivity problem. The effectiveness and robustness of the LSMR solver was highlighted through the processing of all the ERT lines. The processing and evaluation of the ERT data made it possible to map the thickness of the anthropogenic layer below the surface of the tell, to outline the horizontal and vertical dimensions of the palaeochannel adjacent to the tell, and to determine the general stratigraphy of geological layers up to 10 m below the ground surface. The ERT results also were used to update an older topographic map of the site showing the course of the palaeochannel around the tell. A synthetic model verified and enhanced the conclusions based on the field data. This study illustrates the added value that a systematic ERT survey can provide in reconstructing the ancient fluvial geomorphology of a microregion as well as the depth and horizontal extent of deposits associated with human habitation at archaeological sites. Figure 6. Surface maps showing the topographic relief of the different stratigraphic layers around the Szeghalom-Kovácshalom tell. (a) Thickness of the topsoil and anthropogenic Layer. (b) Thickness of the palaeochannel. (c) Thickness of the silty clay and silty clay with sand layer. (d) Burial depth of the deepest clayey layer. This figure is available in colour online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/arp Figure 7. Overlay of the outline of the palaeochannel on an old topographic map of the tell. The solid and dashed lines indicate respectively the definite and prospective boundaries of the palaeochannel as extracted by the ERT survey. This figure is available in colour online at wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/arp

In this work Upper Pleistocene and Holocene vertebrates microfauna study is shown. Samples were collected in Santimamiñe site in the stratigraphical review during 2004 and 2006 years. A total of 47.093 microvertebrates remains were obtained from about 700 Kg of sediments and 20 taxons of microvertebrates (15 micromammals, 2 amphibians and 3 reptiles) were identified. Based on the influence of climate change on some microvertebrates groups, distinguished microfaunal assemblages allows to infer paleoenvironmental conditions along the Santimamiñe stratigraphical sequence. Two episodes were identified, a cold episode in the base of the sequence and, hot episode at the top. Additionally, within the cold episode small environmental variations were recognized.

A synthesis of the data resulting from two years of excavation of a site named ‘Il Villaggio delle Macine’, set along the shores of the Albano crater lake, is presented. The data allow us to describe a perilacustrine settlement ascribed to the period spanning from the 20th to the 16th centuries BC and to reconstruct, quite completely, the economic activity of the inhabitants of that Bronze Age village.
Evidence for growing of cereals, kitchen-gardening, animal breeding as well as hunting and fruit gathering has been found. This suggests a permanent settlement, enabled by the continuous exploitation of all the different resources.  Sedentarization also led to a significant metallurgic production and to a consistently strong overexploitation of the surrounding woodland. An over intensive land use was probably the main reason for a dramatic deforestation event and for the resulting low water productivity and biological
changes within the lake. A stable population of around 100 to 150 inhabitants has been estimated on the basis of the extent of the settlement, of the land available for cultivation and forests, and on the assumption of high land fertility

During the final season of excavation in Mishin Kamik Cave the existing trench was extended vertically (by 0.50 m), and a smaller trench was excavated between the main trench and the eastern cave wall (fig. 1). The lithostratigraphic sequence comprised 8 layers; the lower part of the sequence was best presented in the north profile (fig. 2). Two new speleothem dates, from the crusts in the upper parts of trench 4 and profile 2, gave ages of 128.6±0.9 ka and 124.1±3.3 ka, respectively. These dates provide a terminus ante quem for all structures and finds between layers 3 and 8.
Compared to the previous season, no taxonomic differences were observed among the faunal remains, the mammalian fauna as a whole indicating a mosaic steppe landscape. Interdisciplinary analyses, including XRF and RAMAN spectroscopy of sediment samples and microscopic identification of charred particles, have provided a rich dataset that will facilitate diachronic correlation of humanpalaeoenvironmental proxies.
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